


Spooning

by Grimm_mii



Category: The Avengers (2012), The Avengers - All Fandoms
Genre: F/F, Fluff, M/M, Nightmares, PTSD, Spooning, post-sex cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-09
Updated: 2012-05-09
Packaged: 2017-11-05 01:58:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/400703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grimm_mii/pseuds/Grimm_mii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Pepper, Tony was always the big-spoon, but this was different, so different than anything he was used to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spooning

With Pepper, Tony was always the big-spoon. On nights when they had finally come together after so many apart, both through Pepper’s busy schedule and Tony’s unwillingness to sleep, his heavy arm would carefully drape around her waist, eyes tracing patterns in her sprawl of auburn hair.

And then, when he was too tired to even try anymore, he would cuddle in close to her, the flesh between her shoulder blades blotting out the light from the arc reactor, and tuck his nose into the crook of her neck. She smelled like honey and sunshine, and sometimes that was enough to keep him from dreaming of the smell of heat and sand.

Sometimes he wouldn’t sleep at all, but would just lie there next to Pepper as she turned in her sleep to cuddle close to his chest, her mouth in a perfect, sleeping, ‘o’. He distracted himself in the curve of her hips under the sheets, counting her eyelashes or the wrinkles in her palm, calculating insurmountable numbers that all led back to the perfection of Pepper.

Steve however, was naturally so much bigger than Tony that he easily assumed the position of big-spoon during their first post-coital haze. Tony thought it was odd at first, but definitely something that he might get used to. 

Steve’s arm was like an iron band around his midsection, constantly pulling Tony in closer to his chest. The blue haze of the arc reactor cast it’s light on the far wall as Steve began to trace swirls and patterns into Tony’s belly and chest. He smiled as the curls tickled lines into his hair, slowly, slowly, as they reached their inevitable point of conclusion. Steve’s hand hovered for a moment around the rim of the arc reactor, before moving above it. Tony could _feel_ the grin splitting Steve’s face as he began to make one-handed shadow puppets in its hazy blue light.

“Stop that.” Tony swatted his hand away.

“Sorry.” Steve chuckled as he placed his finger above Tony’s right nipple, and began the swirl again, spiraling inward, inward, until he brushed the metal socket’s rim. His hand moved to hover again, asking hesitantly if this was something allowed.

Tony pulled his hand upwards and, with all the steady sureness that comes from working with delicate machinery, kissed the tips of all five of Steve’s fingers, and once on the palm, before settling it down over the cool circle of light. His palm alone was large enough to blot out the glow, and Tony sighed as he linked his own fingers over the back of Steve’s hand.

This was different, so different than anything he was used to. Pepper, with all her perfection, distracted Tony enough for sleep. He filled his senses with so much of her that he drowned in it, leaving no room for memories of the past to sneak in and choke him. Her scent, her softness, her quiet breathing…

With Steve, Tony’s mind was left empty and blank, enough for thought, enough for memory, but never enough for the past. It was protection. It was solace. It was a heat at his back that chased away the cold dampness of Afghan caves. It was gentle arms that kept others from holding him underwater. It was the opportunity for sleep and dreams of the future, instead of the past.


End file.
